


see the thing you've been chasing / you'll never find it wearing a life vest

by milkywei



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Best Friends, Character Study, Gen, Pep talks, Second gen captains, but it somehow works, yahaba gives the worst pep talks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:02:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22722145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/milkywei/pseuds/milkywei
Summary: Kenji gets an opportunity to step up and be Date Tech's new captain and Shigeru is not going to let him doubt himself and throw it away. Anyway, he's been told that he's great at chewing people out. Giving a pep talk is kind of like the same concept, isn't it?
Relationships: Futakuchi Kenji & Yahaba Shigeru
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	see the thing you've been chasing / you'll never find it wearing a life vest

**Author's Note:**

> alternatively titled: "yahaba shigeru is kenji’s own personal hypeman" & "yahaba shigeru is mrs futakuchi’s favourite son"
> 
> headcanon: Kenji and Shigeru are childhood best friends and neighbours. They grew up together and even played volleyball together in middle school. Shigeru's family moved out of the neighbourhood before they started high school but they still meet up with each other when they are not busy with school or volleyball practice.

**Captain Moniwa (6:45PM)**

Think through what I’ve said, okay? Let me know if you’ve made your decision.

“I'm home!” Shigeru calls out, bursting into Kenji’s room as if it is his own. To be fair, he has spent as much time in Kenji’s room as he did in his room at his previous house. So Shigeru is warranted to barge in unannounced.

“Welcome back,” Kenji mutters from where he is throwing a volleyball on his bed.

Shigeru frowns - this is definitely not the reaction he is expecting. “What's up? You sound as if you just found out the corner store discontinued sour fettuccines.”

Kenji says nothing, only continuing to throw the ball and catch it. Shigeru marches up to him and snatches the ball when it is in mid-air. Kenji sends him a glare but does not turn his way. Perplexed, Shigeru hitches a knee onto Kenji’s bed and hunches over to look at the other side of Kenji's face. There is a bandaid on his forehead that is covering an injury, but it is not big enough to conceal an ugly purpling bruise.

“Did you get into a fight?” Shigeru asks, too used to Kenji’s hot-headedness in middle school to be concerned.

“No,” Kenji replies curtly.

“Tripped over something?”

“No.”

“Got hit by a volleyball?”

“No.”

Shigeru narrows his eyes. “What happened?”

“It's nothing,” kenji replies simply. His expression changes to that of fear when Shigeru lifts a single finger towards him. “Shigeru, don’t you dare.”

“Idiot, you better tell me what happened or I’m gonna do it,” Shigeru threatens him.

“I told you, it’s nothing,” Kenji insists, attempting to get up from the bed.

Shigeru does not accept that answer and promptly swings a leg over Kenji’s body, straddling his legs and preventing him from getting up. Kenji yells and tries to grab onto Shigeru’s wrist as his hand closes in on his face but the little shit is fast. Eventually Kenji is reduced to just trying to get Shigeru’s hand anywhere near his forehead but Shigeru is strong and persistent and within minutes he has blocked Kenji from using his arms and is pressing his finger onto Kenji’s bruise. Kenji howls in pain, rolling to his side in a knee-jerk reaction and leading both him and Shigeru to be thrown off Kenji’s bed. Their noisy struggle summons Kenji’s mother to check up on the boys and she only watches as the two continue bickering before shaking her head and announcing that dinner is ready.

* * *

“You never hide anything from me.” 

Shigeru is sulking. He sulks all through dinner and makes a big show about it by picking at his food and ignoring Kenji’s requests to pass anything on the table. Kenji's mother chooses not to intervene, knowing completely well that intervention is futile when a sulky Shigeru appears and Kenji is the cause of it. She instead sends Kenji a look that says ‘ _ What did you do this time _ ’ and Kenji looks down in shame. Thankfully his dad is away on a business trip and his sister has a night class so he is spared from more accusatory looks.

After dinner, Shigeru goes to the outdoor area of the Futakuchi house and starts throwing Kenji’s volleyball against a wall and catching it again. Kenji sighs as he watches his best friend and he decides that he should just come clean.

“Toss for me,” Kenji requests from Shigeru.

Shigeru is still sulking but he turns to face Kenji and tosses the ball to him. The two fall into a comfortable tandem of tossing and receiving, quietly practicing with the light from the porch and the worn-out concrete wall of the Futakuchi house.

“The third years on my team are officially retiring after today,” Kenji finally tells Shigeru.

Shigeru catches the ball in his hands and pauses a beat before tossing it back to Kenji. “They can still participate in the spring tournament. Why are they retiring so early?” Shigeru asks.

“It's a club tradition, third years retire after Inter-High. Also something about giving time for the new team to get our groove on,” Kenji mutters, quoting Moniwa word for word. “Though I have no idea how we can do that if we don’t have a reliable captain.”

Shigeru feels the accusatory tone in his voice but he also gets the feeling that this is not really about Moniwa. “Who's next in line?”

He sends a toss Kenji’s way and the latter swings his arm with all his might to spike the ball, making it hit the wall with a resounding smack. “Me,” Kenji replies, looking at his throbbing palm with an unreadable expression on his face.

Shigeru understands what is going on now. He catches the ball as it rebounds off the wall, albeit with a bit of difficulty. He stops tossing, seeing that Kenji is not even focused on the ball anymore. Instead, he is just standing still and looking at his hand as if it did something wrong to him. “Why are you saying that you’re unreliable?” Shigeru asks, putting the ball down.

Kenji balls his hand into a fist as his entire body trembles. “I’m the worst fucking choice for captain, just look at me!” kenji yells. Shigeru flinches at the aggression but he remains calm. “Why does it have to be me? I don't have what it takes, I'm not even captain material. Have you seen me going around giving pep talks? I don’t rally people, I rile them up!”

Shigeru feels like he is caught in a  déjà vu . Kenji had the same breakdown in middle school too when he was selected to be captain during their third year. At that time, Shigeru coddled Kenji and did not like seeing him in so much distress so he took on the responsibility instead. For some reason, Kenji just lacks confidence in his leadership skills even though he has the flair of a natural-born leader. He is comfortable being just an ace and Shigeru suspects that sometimes Kenji intentionally sabotages himself so that people do not expect too much from him. Just like how he spoke up against a third year and got barred from becoming a regular during his first year in Date Tech (Shigeru still thinks what Kenji did was stupid).

Shigeru watches quietly as Kenji goes through the entire process of self-denial, pulling at his hair and angrily pacing around. He has learned from middle school that the best way to handle a frustrated Kenji is to give him enough space to pace around and  _ especially  _ make sure that he does not do anything stupid like headbutt a wall and hurt himself. That is probably how he got the bandaid on his forehead.

Kenji is heading towards the worn-out concrete wall. Shigeru has had enough.

“Oi, don’t be an idiot!” Shigeru yells at him, rushing in front of him and blocking him from the wall. “You have to step out of your comfort zone, Kenji. People see your potential even when you don’t see it yourself.”

Kenji’s shoulders deflate and he shakes his head. “Moniwa’s making a mistake. I’ll never be as good as him.”

Shigeru decides that he is done watching Kenji underestimate himself. His best friend needs to stop being such a drama queen. He roughly grabs the taller boy by the collar and drags him to his eye-level, glaring at him with so much frustration. “Don’t you dare doubt yourself, dumbass! You’re a coward and you’ve never tried being captain, so how would you know whether you would be good at it or not?” Shigeru scolds him. “Of course, you can’t be as good as Moniwa-san, because you are not Moniwa-san. You‘re fucking Futakuchi Kenji, a pain in the ass but admirable in your own right. So just be good in the way that only you can, you airhead!”

Shigeru is panting when he finishes his speech and Kenji is looking at him with wide-eyes because he has never seen this side of Shigeru before. “I'm not just saying this because I'm your best friend. We’ve been through a lot together, Kenji,” Shigeru adds in a softer voice. “You’ve got what it takes to lead and I know that you’d make a great captain. I believe in you.”

Shigeru lets go of Kenji’s collar and lightly pushes the other boy, making him stumble backwards. Kenji is silent as he looks at the ground but he finally sighs and says, “Okay. this time I’ll give it a try.”

“That’s the spirit!” Shigeru smiles brightly and proceeds to punch Kenji in the shoulder, making the other boy yelp.

“You’re terrible,” Kenji complains, rubbing his shoulder. “Also, you call that a pep talk? I still have no idea whether you were insulting me or raising me up.”

“Well, it did work, didn’t it?” Shigeru sticks out his tongue and chuckles. “God, it felt good to let it all out! I can’t believe I let your bratty ass have your way in middle school.”

“You were a tyrant captain in middle school,” Kenji mutters.

“What was that, Futashit?”

“Nothing, Shitgeru.”

* * *

When it is time for Shigeru to head home, Kenji's mother sees him out. “Thank you for coming by today, Shigeru-kun,” Kenji’s mother says gratefully. “He has been so moody these past few days so it’s good to finally see him snap out of it.”

“No worries, Mrs Futakuchi!” Shigeru beams. “I’m really touched that you thought of calling me even though Kenji and I are in different schools now.”

Kenji's mother smiles. “You’re the only one who knows how to bring out the best in him. He’s my son but sometimes I don’t understand what’s going through his head.”

Shigeru pulls at his laces and steps out of the genkan. “Thank you for having me, Mrs Futakuchi. Just the other day my parents were talking about how much they miss the neighbourhood.”

“We miss having you as neighbours too, Shigeru-kun,” Kenji’s mother chuckles. “Take care on your way back and send my regards to your parents.”

“Will do! See you soon!” Shigeru waves to her and sets off on his way home.

Kenji's mother waves back and watches as the boy walks further and further away. She closes the door once Shigeru is out of sight and spots Kenji standing in the hallway, watching her. “I'm starting to think that you like Shigeru more than you like me,” Kenji grumbles, crossing his arms to his chest.

His mother laughs as she puts away Shigeru’s house slippers (“Mom, you even gave him his own slippers!”). “Well, Shigeru-kun is such a sweet boy and sometimes you give me a headache.”

“But Shigeru gives  _ me  _ a headache!” Kenji complains.

“He makes you want to do your best though, right?” his mother reminds him with a knowing smile.

Kenji lets out a huff and nothing else. He does not want to start an argument he knows that he is going to lose. He supposes that Shigeru  _ does  _ have a certain influence on him, even though his ways are truly unconventional. He is still scared about being Date Tech’s new captain, but he is no longer scared to at least try. Kenji digs into his pocket and fishes out his phone. He pulls out his chat with Moniwa and types in a response.

**Captain Moniwa (6:45PM)**

Think through what I’ve said, okay? Let me know if you’ve made your decision.

**Me (9:32PM)**

I accept. I’ll succeed you as Date Tech’s captain.

“Do you need me to pack another lunchbox for you to eat before practice tomorrow?” his mother asks.

“Yeah, sure,” Kenji replies, looking at his mother thoughtfully. His mother hums and nods before turning around to walk away.

Kenji hesitates to move but he swallows up his pride and quickly walks up to his mother to give her a hug. His mother is surprised at the sudden show of affection from her otherwise proud son but she hugs him back nonetheless.

“Thanks, mom,” Kenji mumbles to his mother’s hair.

Kenji’s mother smiles and pats her son’s back. While she misses the boy whom he once was, she is truly proud of the person he is becoming. “Do your best, Kenji.”

**Author's Note:**

> title taken from walk the moon's aquaman
> 
> i just looked at these two and my mind went, "you know what? let's make them best friends." so now I have many headcanons of bestfriends!yahafuta
> 
> will this be a series? /looks at all the wips i have. let's see....


End file.
